In April, 17-year-old Jenny Olenick was having her wisdom
teeth removed when she died due to lack of oxygen while under anesthesia. Just
last week, another teen was found dead in his bed the day after his third
molars were taken out.

The procedure is performed on 5 million Americans every
year. And while parents and teens have to sign the standard release to go under
anesthesia, the safety and importance of the out-patient surgery itself is
being called into question.

The extraction causes roughly 11,000 complications annually,
ranging from permanent nerve damage to brain tissue infections, ABC News
reports. And still the surgery is strongly
recommended by the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons to
“prevent future problems.”

In reality, these future problems affect only 12 percent of
those with impacted wisdom teeth. That’s the same exact chance you could come down
with appendicitis. And as far as we know, girls aren’t handing over their
appendices when they hit their teen years. Hmm…